Lenovo has introduced their latest Yoga convertible notebook, and this one isn’t just thinner and lighter – it’s 14.9 mm thick and weighs just 2.8 lbs – Lenovo claims that it’s the world’s thinnest Intel Core i-series laptop. And the improvements don’t stop with the external design, as Lenovo has upgraded virtually every aspect of the Yoga.

First off, 14.9 mm (0.59 inches) would be slim for a thin-and-light notebook anyway, but the Yoga’s thinness is even more impressive considering its 2-in-1 convertible design. The unique hinge mechanism is part of what allows Lenovo to keep such a slim profile, and this aspect has also been revised with a new version of the “watch band” hinge for the Yoga 900 that Lenovo says offers smoother movement than before.

So what’s new under the hood? The latest Intel 6th generation processors to start with, and here are more of the specs:

In keeping with the Yoga name this laptop features a 360-degree hinge design, allowing virtually limitless possibilities for using the machine. This new Yoga also features a battery with much greater density than before – 50% more, according to Lenovo – and a revised cooling system that provides up to 30% better cooling as well as quieter performance.

The Yoga 900 starts at $1199, but the base models will differ in specs depending on where you look. Best Buy seems to have the better deal as they will offer a unit at the introductory price featuring a Core i7-6500u processor, while Lenovo’s base model has an i5-6200u for the same $1199 price. Both versions feature 8 GB of memory, and a 256 GB SSD.

It's like Legos for the working man

Way back in January of 2015 at CES we were shown a new line of accessories from Lenovo called ThinkPad Stack. The company is targeting the professional user on the go with a collection of four devices that can be used together in a stackable form that offers up some impressive capability and function in a small package, though it does come with a business-user markup.

Last week Lenovo sent us a full set of the ThinkPad Stack devices including a portable router, external USB 3.0 hard drive, Bluetooth speaker and external battery. With a price tag totaling nearly $400 for the entire set, there is a pretty high expectation for functionality, build quality and usability that Lenovo needs to hit, and they do a better job than I expected (honestly) to hit it. You don't have to buy all of the available Stack accessories, and that is part of the charm of the new product line - you can customize them to your own needs.

Though it's not for everyone, I do find myself enjoying the idea of Lenovo's ThinkPad Stack products and how it enables the mobile professional. Let's take a look at what it is, how it works and if it's something you need.

Tomorrow at 10 am ET, Microsoft will host a live stream to announce “new Windows 10 devices from Microsoft”. It's pretty obvious that we'll get at least one new Surface device announced, which rumors suggest will be the Surface Pro 4 with a low-bezel, 13-inch display. W4pHub, via VR-Zone, goes a bit further to claim that the display can shrink to 12 inches when in tablet mode, giving a frame for the user to hold. If true, I wonder how applications will handle the shift in resolution. Perhaps the only problem is a little flicker, which will be hidden by the rest of Continuum's transition?

While the rush of Windows 10 devices have missed the Back to School season, despite Microsoft's attempts to rush development with a July release, it looks like we might get a good amount of them for the holiday season. I was a bit worried, seeing how slowly Threshold 2 seems to be advancing, but they seem to have convinced OEMs to make a big deal out of it.

Lenovo Customer Feedback Program 64 is nowhere near the level of SuperFish when it comes creepy behaviour but it certainly shows a lack of insight from the popular company. With SuperFish so recently in the headlines and peoples memory it would perhaps have been beneficial for Lenovo to abandon any and all data collection from their users but it would seem that is not the case. Thankfully this particular one appears in your Programs and can be removed via the Control Panel but you can bet that it will immediately create negative feedback for the company. The Inquirer covers the details here, apparently it was collecting data about Win10 compatibility and user feedback but no matter if it is innocuous or not, there will be fallout.

"SOFTWARE INCLUDED ON LENOVO hardware has been found to be suspicious-looking, and this is not the first time that the company has been caught out like this."

0:46:10This episode of PC Perspective is brought to you by…Zumper, the quick and easy way to find your next apartment or home rental.To get started and to find your new home go to http://zumper.com/PCP

A Diverse Lineup

ThinkPads have always been one of our favorite notebook brands here at PC Perspective. While there certainly has been some competition from well-designed portables such as the Dell XPS 13 and Microsoft Surface Pro 3, the ThinkPad line remains a solid choice for power users.

We had the chance to look at a lot of Lenovo's ThinkPad lineup for Broadwell, and as this generation comes to a close we decided to give a brief overview of the diversity available. Skylake-powered notebooks may be just on the horizon, but the comparisons of form factor and usability should remain mostly applicable into the next generation.

Within the same $1200-$1300 price range, Lenovo offers a myriad of portable machines with roughly the same hardware in vastly different form factors.

First, let's take a look at the more standard ThinkPads.

Lenovo ThinkPad T450s

The ThinkPad T450s is my default recommendation for anyone looking for a notebook in the $1000+ range. Featuring a 14" 1080p display and an Intel Core i5-5300U processor, it will perform great for the majority of users. While you won't be using this machine for 3D Modeling or CAD/CAM applications, general productivity tasks will feel right at home here.

Technically classified as an Ultrabook, the T450s won't exactly be turning any heads with it's thinness. Lenovo strikes a balance here, making the notebook as thin as possible at 0.83" while retaining features such as a gigabit Ethernet port, 3 USB 3.0 Ports, an SD card reader, and plenty of display connectivity with Mini DisplayPort and VGA.

It makes sense that Lenovo would have tailored their Android-powered Yoga 3 tablets for entertainment as tablets are often used for content consumption at home or on the go. But I wouldn’t have imagined Dolby Atmos (the new surround tech that adds vertical sounds to the mix) to find its way into a tablet, let alone one that will retail for $499. And let’s not forget about what Lenovo is calling a world first, that 70-inch rotating projector!

While there was no listed resolution for the projector I don’t think it’s full HD (likely 480p).

What about the rest of the tablet? It’s powered by an Intel Atom x5-Z8500 quad-core processor, a 14 nm Cherry Trail part that features Intel HD graphics (up to 600 MHz) with 12 Execution Units which should help contend with the large 2560x1600 display resolution for GPU-intensive applications.

10.1-inch 2560x1600 IPS display

Intel Atom (Cherry Trail) x5-Z8500

2GB LPDDR3 memory

16 GB or 32 GB onboard storage

MicroSD slot (up to 128 GB)

Rotating 70” Pico Projector, 50 nits, Digital Focus, Gesture Control

4x front-facing speakers, Dolby Atmos 3D Surround Sound

Rear camera: 13 MP Auto Focus, Front camera: 5MP Auto Focus

802.11ac dual-band Wi-Fi

Bluetooth® 4.0, Optional 4G LTE (select countries)

Android 5.1 Lollipop

What kind of battery life can we expect? Thanks to a massive 10200 mAh battery the Yoga Pro 3 10” should last up to 18 hours, according to Lenovo. Pricing starts at $499 for the Wi-Fi version and $599 for the LTE model.

Rounding out the lineup are the non-pro YOGA Tab 3 8-inch and 10.1-inch models. These versions retain the Dolby Atmos audio and will be offered in LTE versions, but have considerably lower specs (identical for both other than battery):

8-inch 1280x800 IPS display

Qualcomm Quad-Core 1.3GHz (APQ8009)

1 GB RAM, 16 GB internal storage

MicroSD slot (up to 128 GB)

8MP AF Rotatable camera

2x front-facing large-chamber speakers

Dolby Atmos 3D Surround Sound

Lenovo AnyPen Technology

Bluetooth 4.0, Optional 4G LTE (select countries)

Android 5.1 Lollipop

Batteries are 6200 mAh for the 8-inch providing up to 20 hours, and 8400 mAh providing up to 18 hours for the 10.1-inch version. The 8-inch version will start at $169 for Wi-Fi only and $199 for LTE, and the 10-inch version will be $199 for Wi-Fi only and $249 for LTE.

Availability for the new YOGA Tab series was not immediately available and will be updated when announced.

Lenovo has unveiled their reinvented their ideapad (now all lowercase) lineup at IFA 2015 in Berlin, and the new laptops feature updated processors including Intel Braswell and Skylake, as well as some discrete AMD and NVIDIA GPU options.

At the entry-level price-point we find the ideapad 100S which does not contain one of the new Intel chips, instead running an Intel Atom Z3735F CPU and priced accordingly at just $189 for the 11.6” version and $259 for the 14” model. While low-end specs (2GB RAM, 32GB/64GB eMMC storage, 1366x768 screen) aren’t going to blow anyone away, these at least provide a Windows 10 alternative to a Chromebook at about the same cost, and to add some style Lenovo is offering the laptop in four colors: blue, red, white, and silver.

Moving up to the 300S we find a 14” laptop (offered in red, black, or white) with Intel Pentium Braswell processors up to the quad-core N3700, and the option of a FHD 1920x1080 display. Memory and storage options will range up to 8GB DDR3L and up to either 256GB SSD or 1TB HDD/SSHD. At 0.86" thick the 300S weighs 2.9 lbs, and prices will start at $479.

A lower-cost ideapad 300, without the “S” and with more basic styling, will be available in sizes ranging from 14” to 17” and prices starting between $399 and $549 for their respective models. A major distinction will be the inclusion of both Braswell and Intel 6th Gen Skylake CPUs, as well at the option of a discrete AMD GPU (R5 330M).

Last we have the ideapad 500S, available in 13.3”, 14”, and 15.6” versions. With Intel 6th Gen processors up to Core i7 like the 300S, these also offer optional NVIDIA GPUs (GTX 920M for the 13.3", 940M for the 14"+) and up to FHD screen resolution. Memory and storage options range up to 8GB DDR3L and up to either 256GB SSD or 1TB HDD/SSHD, and the 500S is a bit thinner and lighter than the 300S, with the 13.3” version 0.76” thick and 3.4 lbs, moving up to 0.81” and 4.6 lbs with the 15.6” version.

A non-S version of the ideapad 500 will also be available, and this will be the sole AMD CPU representative with the option of an all-AMD solution powered by up to the A10-7300 APU, or a combination of R7 350M graphics along with 6th Gen Intel Core processors. 14” and 15” models will be available starting at $399 for the APU model and $499 with an Intel CPU.

All of the new laptops ship with Windows 10 as Microsoft’s newest OS arrived just in time for the back-to-school season.